Christmas Food Around the World

Food sits at the heart of Christmas celebrations in almost every culture. Whether a family gathers around a roast bird in Britain, a seafood feast in Italy, or a bucket of fried chicken in Japan, the shared meal is the ritual that makes Christmas Christmas. This guide covers the traditional Christmas dishes of twelve countries and regions — from the familiar to the surprising.

Christmas Foods by Country

United Kingdom: Turkey, Christmas Pudding & Mince Pies

The British Christmas dinner has been remarkably stable since the Victorian era. Roast turkey — served with roast potatoes, stuffing, pigs in blankets (small sausages wrapped in bacon), Brussels sprouts, parsnips, and rich gravy — is the centrepiece of the Christmas Day meal for roughly three-quarters of British households. Turkey replaced goose as the standard Christmas bird during the 19th century, partly because turkeys were cheaper per pound and large enough to feed a whole family.

Christmas pudding (also called plum pudding, despite containing no plums) is a dense, dark steamed pudding made from dried fruit, suet, breadcrumbs, spices, and matured in brandy for weeks before Christmas. It is brought to the table with brandy poured over it and set alight — a spectacular finale to the Christmas meal. Families traditionally stir the pudding on Stir-up Sunday (the last Sunday before Advent) and hide a silver coin inside for luck.

Mince pies are small, sweet shortcrust pastry cases filled with mincemeat — a mixture of dried fruit, spices, suet, and brandy. Despite the name, modern mincemeat contains no meat. They are eaten throughout December and leaving one out for Father Christmas is a traditional British custom. Christmas cake — a rich fruit cake covered with marzipan and white royal icing — is another seasonal staple, decorated with snowmen and robins.

Germany: Stollen, Lebkuchen & Christmas Carp

German Christmas food has spread its influence across the world, largely through Christmas markets. Stollen is Germany's most iconic Christmas food — a dense, butter-rich fruit bread packed with raisins, candied peel, and often a core of marzipan, then dusted liberally with icing sugar. The most prestigious variety is Dresdner Christstollen, which carries a protected geographical designation and has been made in Dresden since the 15th century.

Lebkuchen (gingerbread) is ubiquitous at German Christmas markets and in German homes throughout Advent. The Nuremberg variety (Nürnberger Lebkuchen) is the most famous — soft rounds of spiced honey cake coated in chocolate or sugar glaze. Spekulatius (spiced biscuits shaped with carved wooden moulds) and Zimtsterne (cinnamon stars made from almond meringue) are also traditional Advent and Christmas sweets.

For the main Christmas Eve meal, many German families eat carp — a Catholic tradition of abstaining from red meat on Christmas Eve. The carp is usually fried or served in a dark beer sauce. On Christmas Day (and the Second Christmas Day, December 26), roast goose or duck is the traditional centrepiece, served with red cabbage and potato dumplings (Kartoffelknödel).

Italy: The Feast of the Seven Fishes, Panettone & Pandoro

Italian Christmas food is organised around La Vigilia (Christmas Eve) and a long, celebratory Christmas Day lunch. On Christmas Eve, Catholic tradition calls for abstaining from meat, giving rise to the Feast of the Seven Fishes — a magnificent spread of seven different fish and seafood dishes. Common choices include baccalà (salt cod), fritto misto di mare (mixed fried seafood), calamari, baked sea bream, marinated anchovies, clams in tomato sauce, and capitone (eel). The exact dishes vary by region: southern Italy tends to be more elaborate, with some families serving thirteen or more dishes.

The two great Italian Christmas breads — panettone and pandoro — divide the country into passionate camps. Panettone, from Milan, is a tall dome of slow-risen dough studded with candied citrus peel and raisins. Pandoro, from Verona, is a butter-gold, star-shaped bread dusted with vanilla icing sugar. Both are given as gifts and eaten throughout December. Artisan versions command significant prices, and the quality gap between industrial and artisan panettone is enormous.

Other Italian Christmas sweets include struffoli (tiny fried dough balls in honey, from Naples), torrone (nougat with almonds or hazelnuts), panforte (a dense Sienese fruit and nut cake with spices), and ricciarelli (chewy almond biscuits). Christmas Day lunch is a long, multi-course affair centring on roast lamb, chicken, or veal.

France: The Réveillon Feast & Bûche de Noël

French Christmas dining is centred on the Réveillon — a lavish late-night feast traditionally eaten after Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. The word réveillon comes from réveiller (to wake up) and refers both to the feast and to staying up through the night. A classic Réveillon menu begins with foie gras on toast, oysters, and smoked salmon or gravlax. The main course is typically roast capon, goose, or turkey, followed by cheese and salad. The meal can last well past 2 a.m.

For dessert, French families serve the Bûche de Noël (Yule Log) — a rolled sponge cake filled with buttercream and decorated to resemble a log, complete with meringue mushrooms and powdered-sugar snow. Pastry chefs compete each season to create the most extravagant versions. The tradition of the Yule Log connects to the ancient custom of burning an actual log on Christmas Eve to bring good luck in the coming year.

Japan: KFC & Christmas Cake

Japan's Christmas food traditions are entirely secular and modern, having developed in the late 20th century. The most famous is the KFC Christmas dinner, a national institution born from a 1974 marketing campaign. KFC Japan's "Party Barrel" — featuring fried chicken, salad, and cake — is ordered by an estimated 3.6 million families every Christmas Eve. Reservations open in October and sell out weeks in advance.

The Japanese Christmas cake (kurisumasu kēki) is a white sponge cake with layers of fresh whipped cream and bright red strawberries, typically topped with a miniature Santa Claus figure. It was popularised by confectionery company Fujiya in the 1920s and has been a Japanese Christmas institution ever since. Unlike Western Christmas cake, it is light, not aged, and must be eaten fresh on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

Australia & New Zealand: Seafood BBQ & Pavlova

Christmas in Australia and New Zealand arrives in the height of summer — temperatures can exceed 35°C on December 25. The quintessential Australian Christmas meal is a seafood barbecue: freshly cooked prawns, shucked oysters, cold lobster, and grilled fish, eaten outdoors with salads and cold drinks.

Pavlova — a meringue base crisp on the outside and soft in the centre, topped with whipped cream and decorated with fresh summer fruits such as strawberries, passionfruit, kiwifruit, and mango — is the signature Christmas dessert of both countries. The dispute over whether the pavlova was invented in Australia or New Zealand is a long-standing and affectionate national rivalry. It was named after the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, who toured both countries in 1926.

USA: Ham, Eggnog & Christmas Cookies

American Christmas food is diverse, reflecting the country's immigrant heritage. The most common Christmas main course is a glazed baked ham — a whole ham roasted with a sweet glaze of brown sugar, honey, mustard, and cloves, then studded with pineapple rings. Roast turkey (carried over from Thanksgiving) is also common. Traditional sides include sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, macaroni and cheese, and cornbread stuffing.

Eggnog — a rich, creamy drink made with eggs, cream, sugar, and typically spiked with bourbon, rum, or brandy — is an American Christmas institution. Christmas cookies are another American tradition: families bake and decorate sugar cookies in Christmas shapes (stars, trees, snowmen), leave them out for Santa on Christmas Eve, and give tins of cookies as gifts throughout December.

Mexico: Tamales, Ponche & Buñuelos

Mexican Christmas food is centred on communal cooking and celebration. Tamales — masa dough (ground corn) filled with chilli-seasoned pork, chicken, cheese, or sweet fillings, wrapped in corn husks and steamed — are the quintessential Christmas Eve food. Making tamales is a family affair called a tamalada: the whole extended family gathers to prepare hundreds of tamales together, an event as important as the eating. Other classic Christmas Eve dishes include bacalao (salt cod stewed with tomatoes, olives, and capers) and romeritos (wild herb cooked in mole sauce with dried shrimp patties).

Ponche is Mexico's festive hot punch — a warming drink simmered with tejocotes (Mexican hawthorn fruit), guavas, tamarind, prunes, sugar cane, hibiscus flowers, and spices. Buñuelos — large, crispy fried dough discs dusted with sugar and cinnamon, sometimes served with a syrup — are eaten for dessert at Christmas and New Year.

Brazil: Pernil, Rabanada & Panetone

Brazilian Christmas takes place in midsummer but features a rich fusion of European and local traditions. The centrepiece of the Christmas table is pernil — a slow-roasted pork leg marinated in garlic, wine, and herbs, cooked for many hours until the meat is tender and the skin crispy. Chester — a large, specially bred chicken sold only at Christmas — is another popular choice. Side dishes include farofa (seasoned toasted cassava flour), rice, salad, and rabanada.

Rabanada is the Brazilian version of French toast: thick slices of bread soaked in milk and eggs, fried until golden, then coated in cinnamon sugar and sometimes topped with honey or wine syrup. It is the traditional Brazilian Christmas dessert. Interestingly, panetone (the Brazilian spelling) is enormously popular in Brazil — Brazilians are among the world's largest consumers of panettone outside Italy.

Scandinavia: The Julbord

The Scandinavian julbord (Christmas table) is a lavish spread served on Christmas Eve. In Sweden, the meal traditionally begins with fish dishes: marinated herring in several preparations, gravlax (cured salmon with dill and mustard sauce), and smoked eel. Jansson's temptation (Janssons frestelse) is a creamy, baked gratin of potatoes, onions, and preserved anchovies — a Swedish Christmas essential. Köttbullar (meatballs) and prinskorv (small sausages) round out the hot dishes.

Lutfisk — dried cod that has been rehydrated with lye (water with wood ash) and then soaked in water for days — is a divisive Scandinavian Christmas tradition. For dessert, risgrynsgröt (rice pudding) with cinnamon and milk is traditional throughout Scandinavia. A single almond is hidden in the pudding: whoever finds it is said to have good luck or will be the next to marry. Julmust — a dark, spiced, non-alcoholic Christmas soda — is a Swedish institution that outsells Coca-Cola in December every year.

Philippines: Lechon, Bibingka & Noche Buena

The Philippines has one of the world's most elaborate Christmas cultures — the season officially begins in September. The centrepiece of the Filipino Christmas feast (Noche Buena, eaten after Midnight Mass) is lechon — a whole suckling pig slow-roasted over charcoal for hours until the skin is crackling and the meat is tender.

Bibingka is a traditional Filipino rice cake made from ground glutinous rice, coconut milk, eggs, and sugar, baked in a clay pot lined with banana leaves and topped with salted duck egg, fresh coconut, and butter. It is sold by vendors outside churches during the Simbang Gabi (nine-day novena Masses before Christmas) and eaten warm in the early morning. Puto bumbong — purple sticky rice steamed in bamboo tubes, served with grated coconut, brown sugar, and butter — is its inseparable companion.

Greece: Christopsomo & Melomakarona

Greek Christmas food has deep roots in Orthodox Christian tradition. Christopsomo (Christ bread) is a large, round enriched bread decorated with a cross and elaborate dough ornaments, baked on Christmas Eve and broken by the head of the household at the Christmas table. Roast pork or lamb is the traditional Christmas Day main course.

The Christmas sweet table in Greece is dominated by two iconic biscuits. Melomakarona are oval, spiced honey biscuits soaked in honey syrup and topped with crushed walnuts. Kourabiedes are butter shortbreads made with ground almonds, buried in a drift of icing sugar, sometimes shaped into crescents or balls. Both are made in large quantities and given as gifts throughout the Christmas season. Vasilopita (St. Basil's bread or cake) is traditionally cut on New Year's Day with a coin hidden inside for good luck.

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